In this study, an all-optical plasmonic switch based on a metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguide coupled to two rectangular cavities that are perpendicularly connected to each other through a vertical stub is proposed and analyzed both theoretically and numerically. Rectangular cavities are filled with a nonlinear Kerr material, and the switching operation is achieved by applying a high-intensity pump input into the MIM waveguide to obtain nonlinear cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect. The proposed structure is designed so that it can realize the switching operation at each of the three telecommunication windows of 850, 1310, and 1550 nm. Realizing the switching operation at these three wavelength bands is accomplished by the Fano resonance. In fact, the Fano resonance is utilized to create a band-stop area that is crucial for building a suitable OFF state for the switching operation at two of the three telecommunication windows of 1310 and 1550 nm. The theoretical and numerical results are obtained using the transmission-line model (TLM) and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, respectively, the results of which comply well. The proposed ultra-compact all-optical switch has significant applications in photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

In this study, two ultra-fast all-optical plasmonic switches based on metal-insulator-metal (MIM) plasmonic waveguides side-coupled to cavity by stubs are proposed. The cavities are filled with a nonlinear Kerr material and the switching occurs due to the self-phase-modulation (SPM) effect. In the first structure, an OFF-ON switching functionality is achieved either by varying the incident light intensity or using the optical bistability effect at the two telecommunication windows of 1550 nm and 850 nm. In the second structure, by adding another nonlinear cavity a bi-directional switch is designed. The finitedeference time-domain (FDTD) method is used to obtain the simulation results. The proposed ultra-fast switches have significant switching mechanisms and picosecond response time (0.25ps for the Off-ON switch and 1.5ps for the bi-directional switch). The proposed all-optical switches have potential of significant applications in photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

In this study, two ultra-fast all-optical plasmonic switches based on metal–insulator–metal (MIM) plasmonic waveguides side-coupled to cavity by stubs are proposed. The cavities are filled with a nonlinear Kerr material and the switching occurs due to the self-phase-modulation (SPM) effect. In the first structure, an OFF-ON switching functionality is achieved either by varying the incident light intensity or using the optical bistability effect at the two telecommunication windows of 1550 nm and 850 nm. In the second structure, by adding another nonlinear cavity a bi-directional switch is designed. The finite-deference time-domain (FDTD) method is used to obtain the simulation results. The proposed ultra-fast switches have significant switching mechanisms and picosecond response time (0.25ps for the OffON switch and 1.5ps for the bi-directional switch). The proposed all-optical switches have potential of significant applications in photonic integrated circuits (PICs).